Transylvania to mark Trans Day of Remembrance

LEXINGTON Ky.—Transylvania University on Friday will participate in the Transgender Day of Remembrance with a public event featuring speakers, a reading of names of transgender people killed by violence in the past year, a candlelight ceremony and a resource fair.

The event is part of the Lexington Trans Week of Awareness and Remembrance and coincides with the national observation, which is a time for education and advocacy. The university’s third annual remembrance ceremony on Friday will be at 7 p.m. in the William T. Young Campus Center Gym.

“The Trans Day of Remembrance and Awareness honors the trans folks who lost their lives to violence in the past year,” said Zoey Peach, a Transylvania senior and event organizer. “In 2015, the murders of trans women of color have risen to epidemic proportions in the U.S. Our event seeks to honor and mourn their lives and other trans lives lost around the world and bring awareness to the issues trans folks face.”

Day of Remembrance started as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman killed in 1998, according to GLAAD. “The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence that year and began an important memorial that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.”

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